The invention disclosed herein relates generally to eyewear. Stated more particularly, the present patent discloses and protects an element of eyewear with a readily removable and replaceable lens portion.
In 1987, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC) published xe2x80x9cRecommendations for Prevention of HIV Transmission in Health-Care Settingsxe2x80x9d where the CDC recommended that blood and body fluid precautions be used for all patients regardless of their known bloodborne infection status. Under these recommended precautions, blood and certain body fluids of all patients are considered potentially infectious for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and other bloodborne pathogens. As such, the CDC""s precautions are commonly referred to as Universal Precautions in that they are practiced at all times for all patients and in all situations in which exposure to blood or potentially infectious materials may occur. Universal Precautions were mandated into standards in 1991 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Among the required precautions is that medical personnel and laboratory workers must wear eye shields to prevent blood and other bodily fluids from reaching their eyes through splattering, splashing, or aerosolization. To be completely effective, an eye shield must protect the wearers eyes and, if desired, nose and mouth. The eye shield should do so without regard to the direction in which the wearer faces.
Similar needs for eye and face protection exist in other fields of endeavor. For example, when painting or applying other liquid coatings to a surface by rolling, brushing, spraying or the like, material can spatter and drip onto the person""s eyes and face. Such spattering and dripping can be particularly problematic where the surface to be coated is above the person applying the material. For a number of reasons including safety, comfort, and convenience during cleanup, practitioners commonly seek to prevent such spattering and dripping.
As one would expect in light of the foregoing, the prior art discloses a wide variety of eye and face shields. However, even when combined, the eye and face shields of the prior art have left room for significant improvements in structure, function, convenience, and comfort. For example, many eye shields make it difficult or uncomfortable for the wearer to wear eyeglasses simultaneously with the shield. Furthermore, many shields fail to provide absolute protection to the wearer from droplets or the like that might go over or around a panel-type shield. This is particularly true of many shields that attempt to accommodate the wearing of eyeglasses since they must be spaced from the wearer""s face and forehead. On a similar note, one will be aware that most if not all shields do not allow the wearer to adjust the distance of the lens or shield portion from the wearer""s face. With this, such shields cannot readily accommodate wearer""s with different needs, preferences, or bodily configurations.
Even further, one knowledgeable in the art will be aware that most eye shields are retained on a wearer""s head by a resilient band or the like that encircles the wearers head. Although effective for securing the shield in place, such bands are disadvantageous in that they can be uncomfortable for many wearers. The bands are also disadvantageous in that they tend to compress wearer""s hairstyles thereby leaving a band-shaped depression in the wearer""s hair. Still further, aside from procuring an entirely new shield structure, shields of the prior art do not allow a wearer to vary the lens portion of the shield with regard to its length, thickness, and other characteristics. Many shields of the prior art are disadvantageous for the further reason that they do not allow a wearer to replace all exposed portions of a contaminated shield readily and conveniently.
In light of the foregoing, it becomes clear that there is an appreciable need for an element of eyewear, such as an eye shield, that would provide a solution to one or more of the abovedescribed deficiencies from which prior art devices have suffered. It is still more clear that an eye shield providing a solution to each of the needs left by the prior art while providing a number of heretofore unrealized advantages thereover would represent a marked advance in the art and would in all likelihood perform advantageously relative to eyewear even beyond protective shields.
Advantageously, the present invention is founded on the broadly stated object of providing an element of eyewear that solves each of the deficiencies that the prior art has been unable to solve while supplying a number of even further advantages thereover.
Stated more particularly, a fundamental object of the invention is to provide an element of eyewear that can provide a wearer with unqualified protection from airborne debris and contaminants. Still more particular objects of the invention include preventing debris and contaminants from reaching portions of a wearer""s face, such as the wearer""s eyes, nose, and mouth, including from directly in front of the wearer, from beside the wearer, and from above the wearer""s eyes.
A related object of the invention is to provide an element of eyewear that can provide an opaque shield for a wearer""s eyes from light from above.
Another basic object of the invention is to provide an element of eyewear with a lens or shield portion that can be controlled with regard to its distance from a wearer""s face and forehead to accommodate the wearing of eyeglasses, different wearer preferences, and different facial structures.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an element of eyewear that can be securely retained relative to a wearer""s head without a need for entirely surrounding the wearer""s head with a band or the like.
An even further object of the invention is to provide an element of eyewear that can absorb perspiration from a wearers brow thereby to prevent that perspiration from reaching the wearers eyes and the like.
A further object of the invention is to provide an element of eyewear that enables a wearer to change the length, thickness, angle, tint, and further characteristics of the lens or shield portion of the eyewear without a need for procuring an entirely new element of eyewear.
These and further objects and advantages of the invention will be readily obvious not only to one who has reviewed the present specification and drawings but also to one who has had an opportunity to make use of an embodiment of the present invention for an element of eyewear.
In carrying forth these objects, a most basic embodiment of the present invention for an element of eyewear is founded on a first eyewear portion and a second eyewear portion. At least one projection extends from the first eyewear portion, and at least one aperture is disposed in the second eyewear portion. The first eyewear portion can comprise a lens portion, and the second eyewear portion can comprise a frame portion. Alternatively, the eyewear portions could be disposed oppositely such that the projection would extend from the second eyewear portion, which again could comprise a frame portion, and the aperture could be disposed in the first eyewear portion, which again could comprise a lens portion.
Under even this basic arrangement, the first eyewear portion can be removably and replacably coupled with the second eyewear portion by an insertion of the projection of the first eyewear portion into the aperture in the second eyewear portion. With this, a damaged or contaminated lens portion can be removed from the frame portion and can be replaced by a new or cleaned lens portion without a need for replacing the frame portion. Furthermore, a wearer can replace a lens portion of a given type with a different lens portion of another type or property, such as a different size, material, tint, or other characteristic.
Preferably, the projection from the first eyewear portion will have at least one cross-sectional dimension that is greater than a corresponding cross-sectional dimension of the at least on aperture in the second eyewear portion. For example, the preferred projection will be wider, taller, or wider and taller than the aperture. With this, the projection will be frictionally retained in the at least one aperture. Of course, this could be accomplished in a number of ways. One preferred way is to form the projection partly or entirely from resiliently compressible material, such as resiliently compressible foam or the like. Alternatively, the projection could be mechanically compressible such as by being formed by first and second longitudinally coupled members with a resiliently compressible member, such as a spring, interposed therebetween.
The eyewear certainly could accomplish the foregoing with just a single projection from the first eyewear portion and a single aperture in the second eyewear portion. In such a case, the projection could be an elongate strip of, for example, resiliently compressible foam, and the aperture could be of corresponding size and shape. Alternatively, there could be a plurality of projections and a plurality of apertures corresponding in size, shape, and relative location such that they are disposed to align with the plurality of apertures. With this, the plurality of projections can be received into the plurality of apertures to project therethrough.
In preferred embodiments, the frame portion of the eyewear can have a bridge segment for being disposed adjacent to a forehead of a wearer. In such a case, the plurality of apertures can be disposed in the bridge segment, and the projection or projections can extend from adjacent to an upper edge of the lens portion. Under certain embodiments, the projection or projections can extend from an elongate body portion of resiliently compressible material that is affixed to and extends across an inner surface of the lens portion.
With this, the distal end or ends of the projection or the plurality of projections can pass through the apertures and beyond an inner surface of the bridge segment to contact the forehead of the wearer and to maintain the inner surface of the bridge segment spaced from the forehead of the wearer. Advantageously, the projection or projections and possibly the body portion of resiliently compressible material can cooperate with the bridge segment to prevent debris and other airborne contaminants from reaching a wearers eyes. The body portion of resiliently compressible material and the projection or projections that extend therefrom simultaneously can cooperate to shield the wearer""s eyes from light from above. Even further, the resiliently compressible projection or projections can absorb perspiration from the wearer""s brow thereby to prevent that perspiration from reaching the wearer""s face, particularly his or her eyes.
One can exploit this arrangement to adjust or control the distance between the forehead of the wearer and the lens portion of the eyewear by adjusting or controlling the length of the projection or projections. Alternatively or additionally, the distance between the forehead or brow of the wearer and the lens portion can be controlled by an adjustment of the thickness of the body portion of resiliently compressible material. With this, a wearer desiring to maintain the lens portion more significantly spaced from his or her face to allow, for example, the wearing of eyeglasses under the lens portion can employ projections of increased length or a body portion of increased thickness. The length of the projections and the thickness of the body portion can also be used to accommodate wearers with different physical structures and preference.
In one preferred embodiment, the projections can be formed in multiple sections that are detachably coupled such as along lateral, perforated score lines. Under this arrangement, no, one, or multiple sections can be torn away from the remainder of the projection to alter the length of the projection. By doing so, the wearer will control the amount that the body portion of the projection projects beyond the inner surface of the bridge segment and thus the distance that the lens portion is maintained from his or her face.
It is, of course, important to note that the eyewear could assume a number of forms and could be used for a number of purposes. For example, eyewear according to the present invention could be designed and used for general casual wear. Furthermore, embodiments of the invention could be designed for sports use. Even further still, elements of eyewear embodying the present invention could incorporate shield-type lens portions such that they could be used to great advantage in medical situations to comply with Universal Precaution Guidelines and in painting, spraying, welding, and other situations where ones eyes must be shielded or otherwise protected. In such a case, the lens portion typically would take the form of a panel of transparent material, which could, for example, be flat or arcuate.
Even further advantage can be realized by forming the frame portion of the eyewear with first and second arms with first and second arms fixedly or hingedly coupled to the bridge segment for being disposed to opposite sides of a head of a wearer. Under such a construction, the eyewear can be retained relative to the head of the wearer by contact of the distal end of the projection or projections with the forehead of the wearer and by contact of the arms with the sides of the head of the wearer. With this, the eyewear could be securely retained without a need for any portion thereof resting on the bridge of the wearer""s nose and without a need for a band or the like surrounding the wearer""s head.
One will appreciate that the foregoing discussion broadly outlines the more important features of the invention to enable a better understanding of the detailed description that follows and to instill a better appreciation of the inventor""s contribution to the art. Before an embodiment of the invention is explained in detail, it must be made clear that the following details of construction, descriptions of geometry, and illustrations of inventive concepts are mere examples of the many possible manifestations of the invention.